VNA
Party leader urges Mong Cai to become business centre Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh has urged Mong Cai border-gate town in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh to become a modern, busy business centre in the next decade. The city, however, should bear Vietnam's traditional cultural value to attract foreign tourists, Mr Manh said. He asked Mong Cai to devise an industrialisation and modernisation plan in harmony with the provincial as well as the national development plans. Mong Cai was the first leg of the Party leader's working tour of the coal-mining province of Quang Ninh from October 27-30. Mr Manh reminded Quang Ninh and Mong Cai officials to effectively conduct people-to-people diplomatic relations in conformity with the "Neighbourly friendship, comprehensive co-operation, long-term stability and future oriented" principle as defined by high-level leaders of the Vietnam and China. He praised the achievements recorded by the people of Mong Cai in the past 15 years of national renovation and more than 10 years of exercising the open-door policy in Mong Cai. Those efforts, Mr Manh noted, have turned Mong Cai into a bustling border township, offering improved socio-economic conditions, political stability and better living standards to the locals. The border-gate township has strengthened friendship and co-operation with Tonghsiang township and other localities of China. The Party leader was briefed on the recent situation and five-year development orientations of Quang Ninh province as well as of the Vietnam Coal Corporation (Vinacoal) by provincial leaders and Vinacoal executives. Quang Ninh last year registered a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of around 10% as against the country's average of 6.7%. Meanwhile, Vinacoal exerted great efforts in overcoming difficulties in business and production activities last year, and is fulfilling and even surpassing the annual target set for this year. General Secretary Manh pointed to the fact that Quang Ninh is part of the dynamic northern economic cluster, which also includes Hanoi and Haiphong, and that the locality possesses extremely important advantages that cannot be seen in other localities. One of those advantages, according to the Party leader, is its potential to develop a "sea economy." He reminded Quang Ninh to effectively utilise investment sources allocated by the government to boost provincial socio-economic development. Executives of Vinacoal and Quang Ninh provincial officials should closely co-ordinate with each other to bring into full play their combined strength for the common goal of national development and turn Quang Ninh into a key economic locality of the country, Mr Manh said. He asked Vinacoal to grasp the Resolution of the Party Central Committee's third plenum on business renovation and build itself into a strong State-owned corporation. Vinacoal executives should boost thrift, fully tap internal strength, actively participate in economic integration, and make effective use of international co-operation in terms of investment and technology, Mr Manh also said. (VNA) **** President inspects flood-hit Long An President Tran Duc Luong has said that the Party and State of Vietnam are always concerned about the efficiency and effectiveness of the national flood control programme in the Mekong river delta, stressing that "The programme is part of the government's active effort to harness and control seasonal flooding in the region." The president made the comment while meeting with key leaders of southern Long An province during his two-day tour of the province from October 29 to inspect the efficiency of major measures being carried out in the flood control programme and the project to help the people in the delta stabilise their daily life during the flooding season. President Luong praised the results obtained by locals in the implementation of the programme last year and said "This year saw adverse weather and natural disasters that have caused great losses to the Mekong delta, the country's biggest rice bowl." "Experience should be drawn from the implementation of the flood control programme and the project to help locals ensure safety and stability in seasonal flooding this year in order to seek more reasonable and feasible solutions to overcome floods in the future," Mr Luong told the provincial officials. He called on scientists, planners, and developers to continue studying the construction of water drainage systems, roads, bridges and culverts suitable to each province and area in the delta in order to preserve the ecological environment and ensure a normal life for the locals as well as to conform to the natural flow of floodwaters. President Luong also visited many flood victims to express the Party and government's sympathy to them and hope that they will be able to stabilise their production and life immediately after the floodwaters recede. He asked the provincial authorities, relevant ministries, and localities to help flood victims by providing such crucial things as health care, plant seeds, fertiliser, raw materials, and production equipment. (VNA) **** Government seeks ways to promote exports The regular government meeting in Hanoi on October 29-30 focused discussion on a programme to promote exports in 2002. The government noted that total export earnings this year are estimated to register an annual growth rate of 8%. The growth rate was viewed by Government members as an encouraging sign given the recent global economic slow-down. The failure to obtain the annual export target this year was due to the drops in prices of Vietnam's key export items such as rice, coffee, pepper and cashew nuts, the government said, adding that those falling prices have reduced the country's export earnings by US $900 million in 2001. Government members agreed to set export earnings for 2002 at between US $17.3 and 17.6 billion or a minimum year-on-year increase of 10% in terms of export value. They said that in order to achieve the target, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive solutions, covering production management, trade promotion, tax and credit policies and customs regulations, in the near future. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, who chaired the meeting, requested a thorough analysis of those export items that can be highly competitive in the world market and, at the same time, generate more jobs for the people. He called for further efforts to expand outlets for commodities considered to be strategic export items of Vietnam. He pointed to the need to reduce dependence on a traditional market to avoid a sharp reduction in export earnings when that market experiences unpredictable changes. The prime minister stressed the necessity to facilitate and mobilise small and medium-size businesses of all economic sectors to export goods, including businesses owned by Vietnamese residing abroad. Also in a bid to boost the export of Vietnamese farm produce, Mr Khai gave permission to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to send officials as agricultural economic counsellors to some countries considered to be key export markets of Vietnam. The government also held an in-depth discussion on the investment development strategy for 2001-2005. Government members came to a consensus on the overall objective of development investment defined by the Ninth Party Congress, namely rapidly increasing capital for socio-economic development investment, building an effective economic structure and raising competitiveness; completing the infrastructure network; pouring adequate investment into key economic regions, and giving more investment support to poor areas. Prime Minister Khai advised government members to draw experience from development investment in the 1995-2000 period so as to avoid formalities of economic emulation as well as troubles and corruption with regard to investment in development projects. The government leader called for the mobilisation of more financial resources from all economic sectors in the country for development investment. He said he hoped that development investment in the next five years would exceed US $60 billion to help meet the socio-economic targets set forth by the Ninth National Party Congress. The government also focused discussion on speeding up the process of restructuring State-owned enterprises, SOEs, so as to maintain their key role in the national economic development as well as to keep the national industrialisation and modernisation process in line with socialist orientation. For this purpose, legal documents and proposals related to SOEs development were thoroughly debated. In conclusion Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said ministries, industries, major corporations, and local administrations have been authorised to list all enterprises which should be equitised or undergo an ownership change, stressing that it was an important part of the Party Central Committee's third plenum resolution. He also asked relevant authorities to test-organise single-owner limited liability companies, reorganise some pilot corporations on the model of Parent Companies and Affiliates, and test-lease SOEs in order to gradually apply them on a large scale. The government members also raised opinions on the bills of Pricing, Fisheries, and government regulation on Overseas Vietnamese's Right to buy real estate in Vietnam. They heard reports on the inspection work and solutions to citizens' petitions in the third quarter of 2001 as well as the socio-economic development in October and the first ten months of 2001. They shared the view that the last ten months saw certain achievements such as higher-than-planned tax collection, high industrial growth, and lower poverty and unemployment rates. They, however, raised concern about slow export growth as well as slow disbursement of development investment. The government members planned to closely monitor the ministries, industries and local administrations taking concrete measures to boost the yearly economic growth rate to 7.1% as planned and making preparations for the implementation of the socio-economic development targets for 2002. (VNA) **** VND 6 billion for flooded Quang Nam Quang Nam central province will be given an initial relief sum of VND 6 billion (US $400,000) to overcome the aftermath of the recent flood, according to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan. Touring the flood-hit province on October 30, Deputy Prime Minster Tan instructed relevant ministries and branches of activities to promptly allocate the sum to the province so as to help local people repair public works, irrigation networks, and important communication sections to serve the coming winter-spring rice crop. The deputy prime minister made an inspection tour of some areas of Dien Ban district along the Thu Bon river where the safety of more than 300 households are being threatened by landslide. In the long-run, Mr Tan said, relevant ministries and the provincial authorities must strengthen social welfare projects and promptly carry out the construction of two hydro-electric power plants in order to ease the flooding and divert the flow of the Thu Bon and Vu Gia rivers. He asked local authorities to evacuate people facing a high risk of landslide to safe places. The recent flood killed 13 people, injured nine others, damaged 238 houses and 1,000 metres of canal, destroyed 3,000 hectares of vegetables and subsidiary food crops, and sank seven boats. Total material losses amounted to nearly VND 39 billion (US $2.6 million). The local authorities have exerted great efforts in providing timely relief to flood victims during and immediately after the flood. Mr Tan reminded local authorities to continue agricultural economic restructuring, focusing on the selection of suitable seedlings and animal breeds and the transfer of farming techniques to local farmers to soon eradicate hunger and poverty. He asked the province to fully tap its sea-based economy and forest resources. Quang Nam has great tourism potential as it is home to two world cultural heritage sites, namely the ancient Hoi An town and the My Son Holy Land. Therefore, the deputy prime minister asked the locality to closely coordinate environmental protection with the preservation of its traditional culture in order to attract tourists. (VNA) **** Vietnam, Mongolia promote co-operation The Vietnam-Mongolia Inter-governmental Commission for Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Co-operation held its tenth session in Ulan Bator from October 22-26. Vietnam's delegation to the session was led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Chairman of the Vietnamese section to the Commission, Nguyen Thien Luan. The two sides reviewed the implementation of agreements reached at the previous session and discussed measures to boost bilateral co-operation in the near future. They signed an agreement on veterinary medicine and animal quarantine, an education and training co-operation agreement in the 2001-2005 period, and a framework agreement on co-operation between the two countries' State Banks. Both sides also agreed to solve issues relating to transport and communications, the payment mechanism of both countries' banks, and the preferential policies, being considered for the import of processed farm products. During its stay, the Vietnamese delegation was received by Mongolian Prime Minister Nambaryn Enkhbayar, who spoke highly of Vietnam's renovation achievements and its prestige in the international arena. Prime Minister Enkhbayar affirmed that Mongolia attaches importance to its relations with Vietnam and expressed his thanks to the Vietnamese government and people for their donation of 2,000 tonnes of rice to help Mongolia overcome the aftermath of a severe blizzard it endured last winter. (VNA) **** Flood victims assisted to restore production Local authorities in flood-hit provinces have provided farmers with money and rice strains to help them restore production. Commercial banks of An Giang province have granted VND 1,265 billion in loans for the local farmers for agricultural development. This figure is 45% more than that of the same period last year. Other banks such as Industrial and Commercial Bank, Foreign Trade Bank, Investment and Development Bank and Agriculture and Rural Development Bank are planning to offer farmers credit funds so they can join the programme of plant and cattle shifting. Commercial banks have also provided the locals with loans worth VND 832 billion to grow rice and vegetables and for cattle breeding. The Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Bank in Dong Thap province plans to provide VND 120 billion for the local farmers' households to produce winter-spring crops. The Rice Institute of the Mekong River Delta has prepared 365 tonnes of rice strains, 30 tonnes more than that of last crop, to distribute local farmers for their winter-spring crops. In order to have more rice strains, Mekong river delta provinces tried to multiply strains themselves and subsidised rice costs for poor households heavily affected by the floods. **** Vietnam presents brass drum replica to UNESCO Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem presented a copy of Ngoc Lu brass drum to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) at the 31st congress of UNESCO in Paris, said sources from the Ministry of Culture and Information on October 30. The deputy prime minister expressed his wish that UNESCO would continue its assistance for cultural, scientific, educational and information activities of Vietnam and recognise more heritage sites in Vietnam. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
